Assessors

Dr Nellie Adjaye

Dr Adjaye has more than 20 years' experience in paediatrics, child health and child protection issues and is Consultant Paediatrician, with special interest in community child health, for Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust. For 10 years, she was the Trust's named Medical Officer for Child Protection and a member of the local Child Protection Committee.

She continues to offer an acute on-call service and sees children who may have been abused. She is a member of the steering group for child protection issues within the Trust and often sits on review groups investigating serious child abuse and child deaths.

Mrs Donna Kinnair

Mrs Kinnair is a qualified nurse and health visitor. She is currently the Strategic Commissioner for Lambeth, Southwark and Lewisham Health Authority's Children's Services.

She has been a child protection service manager, child protection adviser, member of a child sexual abuse team and is an experienced trainer in medical law and child protection. She has played a key role in auditing child protection practice for various Social Services Departments and chaired working groups on several reviews into child deaths.

Detective Superintendent John Fox

Mr Fox, who is a detective superintendent, has been in the police force for 26 years. He has significant experience in dealing with child protection investigations and has been a member of various Home Office committees on child protection and young witnesses. He also helped to produce the HMIC Thematic Report into Child Protection within the Police Service.

During 1998, he represented the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) on the Working Together steering group. He represents ACPO on three Home Office groups concerned with child protection and sits on four Area Child Protection Committees. He has chaired serious incident committees, under the Children Act 1989, and has conducted several internal management reviews at the request of Area Child Protection Committee chairmen.

Mr Nigel Richardson

Mr Richardson has 20 years' child welfare experience and has worked in a variety of operational and managerial positions within social services. He is currently the Assistant Director, Children and Families, for North Lincolnshire council and is vice-chairman of the local Area Child Protection Committee, chairman of the multi-agency partnership responsible for the joint planning and delivery of services for children and is the Local Authority's Quality Protects Lead Officer.

Mr Richardson also spent five years employed as a child care consultant working with a large number of Local Authorities and recently was invited to sit on the National Advisory Group contributing to the development of the Framework for the Assessment of Children in Need and their Families.